Plans have been in place for several weeks for a new school year to begin on August 3 but the announcement of teacher furlough days by the Governor on Monday has had school system personnel scrambling to schedule the requested three day furloughs by December 31st.   The announced dates for school open house events, meet-the-teacher nights and planned teacher trainings scheduled for next week have made selection of furlough days a difficult task on this short notice.  System administrators have worked to meet the Governors challenge with the least amount of impact on planned events that parents already have on their schedules.  The plan for dealing with the three furlough days requested by Governor Perdue was announced after a called meeting of the Floyd County Board of Education on Thursday.

The first priority for the school system was to make sure that any furlough day be taken when students are not in class to lessen the direct impact on learning in the classroom.  One problem is that teachers are only allowed ten planning days during the school year and only five of those days fall before the December 31 target date set by the Governor.  Superintendent Lynn Plunkett knows that teacher planning days are important and that reducing that time will certainly have an impact on our schools and the children in our classrooms.  Plunkett said, “Teachers value their planning time and they always give more of their time than is allotted to get ready to teach our children so this is a measure that I truly did not wish to see forced upon us by the economic downturn.”  She added, “Our teachers and all of our personnel pulled together to get us through tough budget reductions last year and I know that we can weather this new storm on our horizon with that same spirit of unity.” 

The plan for furlough days for Floyd County Schools will include using two days scheduled for teacher pre-planning next week and a scheduled teacher planning day on October 12.  Each school principal will be allowed to select the two days the school will furlough from the four scheduled for preplanning on the system’s calendar.  This will allow scheduled events such as open house, orientation or teacher training to take place as originally scheduled for most schools.  (Link to list of furlough days for each school.)  The third furlough day will be taken by all personnel on October 12.  “Allowing schools flexibility to meet this mandate from the state will allow for the least impact on scheduled events for teachers and parents,” commented Plunkett.   Adjustments in orientation plans had to be made at Alto Park Elementary, Midway Primary, and Pepperell Middle and are noted on the updated activities list on the school system Web site.  (Link to school orientation, meet-the-teacher, and open house activities with changes noted.)  Please note that new student registration activities will take place as scheduled even if a school is listed as using the announced date as a furlough day.  Schools listed as being furloughed on the scheduled new student registration date are Armuchee High School, Cave Spring Elementary, Coosa High School and Pepperell Middle School.  School personnel will be on hand on those dates to help new students and their parents with registration.

All system personnel who work on days when students are not in school will be impacted by the furloughs - including central office and school administrators.  The only personnel not affected will be bus drivers because they only work when children are in school.  Central office administrators and personnel will be furloughed on October 12 along with all school personnel as well as on December 21 and 22.  “This is not a decision that I wanted to make and I understand that this directive from the state will hurt our teachers, lunchroom workers, maintenance workers, and personnel at almost every level of the school system” stated Plunkett.  “Therefore, I have decided to personally take an additional two furlough days myself on October 8 and 9, as well as the three requested by the Governor, to help the school system meet the financial challenges that lay ahead.” 

Furloughs were not the only blow to Floyd County Schools during the Governor’s announcement on Monday.  The Governor also announced the additional reduction of 3% from the school system’s recently approved budget.  The reduction will mean another estimated $2.2 million will need to be eliminated from an already bare-bones budget.  Dr. Plunkett has asked each person and department in the school system to begin to look for ways to reduce the budget.  “We have weathered the reductions in funding to this point and remained a fiscally sound school system,” Plunkett stated. “Our challenges continue to multiply to remain financially sound while also providing the quality education our children and community deserve but we remain committed to those two primary goals.” 

Floyd County Schools Furlough Plan Schools

• All school personnel will be furloughed for two days during pre-planning (days selected at principals discretion)
• The third furlough day will be taken on the scheduled Teacher Planning day on October 12, 2009.
• Selected personnel may work on the announced furlough day to handle necessary tasks but will take the furlough on an alternate day approved by the school principal.

Central Office

• October 12 - Furlough day for all central office administrators and personnel.
• December 21 - Furlough day for all central office administrators and personnel.
• December 22 - Furlough day for all central office administrators and personnel.
• Selected personnel may work on the announced furlough day to handle necessary tasks but will take the furlough on an alternate day approved by a supervisor.

Links to Important Information

List of School Selected Furlough Days
List of School Beginning of School Activities (with changes)
New Student Registration Schedule